Warner Building An Adventure Fantasy Around Real-Life Explorer Marco Polo

Even though not many of us know the actual details of Marco Polo's life-- yes, he's a real person, not just a game you play in the pool-- he's still remembered as the consummate explorer. Now Warner Bros. will take advantage of our forgetfulness by making an adventure movie loosely based on Polo's life, with I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence assigned to direct

The writing team of Adam Cooper and Bill Collage pitched the idea, with the basic premise of making it "a fantasy adventure instead of a biopic." Cooper told Variety, "We see this as something that takes place in the Orient of our imagination, amid the cultural clash of the East and the West." The real Marco Polo traveled from Venice, which was part of the Holy Roman Empire, to serve as an ambassador to the Mongol Empire, which ruled much of the East.

Having seen the epic Mongol, about one of the first Mongol leaders Genghis Khan, I'm totally excited to see even more epic adventures and bloodshed set in the same era. And as much as this may horrify my history teachers, I'm not sure we really need a true-to-life biopic of Marco Polo. The world he lived in was so fascinating that it might be worth taking some narrative detours. Of course, this may turn out to be about as true to history as The Mummy series, in which case, I take it all back. Just covering my bases.